The Community Foundation for Crawford County is pleased to introduce Emilee Brown, a 2022 recipient of one of the 19 Doug and Renee Leuthold Scholarship awards, and one of the three Tyler Niese Memorial Scholarship awards.
Emilee, the daughter of Steve Brown and Stacee Gimlich, is a 2022 graduate of Buckeye Central High School. She will be attending The University of Toledo this fall and studying Visual Arts.
What inspired you to choose your intended major?
“My freshman year I entered high school taking Art I. I was nervous but had high hopes for myself as I had done quite well in middle school art classes. However, I had a new teacher now, so I was very nervous, but I realized shortly after that I could not have had a better teacher. Mrs. Majoy was the first person to really help me discover my love for art. She encouraged me to keep trying even when I felt like giving up and helped me along the way. Unfortunately, during my sophomore year of high school, COVID-19 struck and I had to finish Art II online. Mrs. Majoy stuck with it through all the hardships and helped us finish Art II even though we could not create as much art as we could have in the classroom.
When we returned for my junior year, Mrs. Majoy did not return. She had contracted COVID and could not return to the classroom as it was heavily affecting her immune system. For nearly a year, I had not seen Mrs. Majoy or known how she was doing, and it was very hard to adjust to the multiple substitutes and fear of how Mrs. Majoy was doing. My junior year, I had only substitutes, and it was incredibly hard to be in the classroom when my favorite teacher was not there. My senior year started off with a long-term sub; however, due to scheduling conflicts, she had to resign from the position. In the second semester for my senior year, Miss Kalb became the new long-term substitute for the art room. I was very excited because I knew Miss Kalb when she attended Buckeye Central, and I knew she was a good artist. Miss Kalb quickly became a good friend to me and a good teacher. She helped me create the most difficult pieces and my most unique pieces. She encouraged and helped me throughout the rest of the year, and I could not have picked a better teacher to take Mrs. Majoy’s spot.
At the end of the year, Miss Kalb had the 2022 seniors create an all-senior art show. I had not realized how much art I had created until I had hung it all up and saw how large my station was. The week of the art show, one of my teachers let slip that Mrs. Majoy was able to attend the senior art show. Mrs. Majoy came to the art show and began crying as soon as she saw us. We had not seen her since the middle of sophomore year and it was a very melancholy moment for us all. Those two women have helped me immensely with choosing my major. I am excited to see what time brings and I hope one day I can help others the way Mrs. Majoy and Miss Kalb have helped me.”
What are your career and life goals after you graduate?
“I have not yet decided what I plan to do with my degree in visual arts; however, I mostly believe I would like to become a high school art teacher. I am very excited to see how my mind will change as life goes on and I hope to become as successful as I wish to be.”
Congratulations and good luck in the future, Emilee!
To learn more about the scholarships offered through the Foundation, visit www.cfcrawford.org/scholarships.
